For Your Pleasure - 184 Channels

Time Warner Will Roll Out Its New Digital-cable Service Monday In Orange And Seminole Counties.

July 28, 1999|By Greg Groeller of The Sentinel Staff

Even the most voracious television junkies should be appeased by Time Warner Communications Inc.'s new 184-channel digital-cable service, which will offer a smorgasbord of network spinoffs, music channels and pay-per-view and premium stations.

But some channel surfers may be overwhelmed by the lineup, unveiled Tuesday by the region's dominant cable provider.

Time Warner said it will begin rolling out the expanded service on Monday in Apopka, downtown Orlando, Pine Hills, Winter Park, Winter Springs and Maitland.

It will take until the end of 2000 for the service to be available to all of Time Warner's customers in Central Florida.

Digital service offers slightly improved video and audio. The expanded service will include 12 video and 40 commercial-free music channels, plus the ability to access 32 premium stations and 38 pay-per-view channels.

The price: $42.49 a month, or $4.50 more than Time Warner's existing 81-channel lineup. Those 81 channels will be included in the expanded service, though premium channels such as HBO still will cost extra.

Customers will need a new set-top box and remote control - included in the $42.49 charge - to receive the digital signal. Customers who already have a SmartBox can swap it out for the new box at no charge.

But non-SmartBox customers will have to pay for installation of the digital box. That price wasn't disclosed.

New stations include CNN-FN, a financial news channel similar to CNBC; ESPN Classics; an array of Discovery Channel spinoffs; and nearly a dozen HBO and Showtime premium channels. The bulk of the new digital pay-per-view stations offer all-day viewing - the same movie played repeatedly - for a flat $3.95 a day.

Some may find the sequence of the expanded channel lineup bewildering. Want to watch the Encore Westerns premium channel? That'll be Channel 280 on your television set. How about the Solid Gold Oldies digital music channel? That's Channel 423. In fact, the digital lineup doesn't top out until Channel 440.

Why? Time Warner has grouped channels by categories, with gaps in between those groups for future expansion. The SmartBox will simply skip over the vacant channels.

Digital networks such as the fashion-oriented Style are grouped in the 100s, premium channels in the 200s, pay-per-view in the 300s and digital music in the 400s.

But the groupings may not completely make sense. The bulk of sports stations, for example, are from channels 29 to 33. But there are two more sports stations, on channels 129 and 130. Similarly, children/family channels fall from 34 to 46, then there's a group from 139 to 142.

The difference? Non-digital, or analog, vs. digital. The lineup is split: Non-digital channels are from 1 to 76; digital stations go from channel 124 to 440.

Some industry-watchers wonder whether consumers will buy into the idea of so many more channels.

``The question becomes, `Will you have an easier time sucking more money out of consumers by offering them the pest-control channel or yet another cooking channel?''' said Robert Rosenberg, president of Insight Research Corp., a Parsippany, N.J.-based firm that researches telecommunications issues.

``I'm not sure that question has been answered.''

The introduction of digital cable is essential for an industry hoping to offer a variety of add-on services, such as high-speed Internet access and local phone service. Digital technology compresses a video signal freeing up bandwidth for more channels while still leaving room for phone and Internet services.

Time Warner and AT&T Corp. are teaming up to offer local phone service in select markets. And in June, Time Warner rolled out its Road Runner high-speed Internet service in parts of Orange and Seminole counties, offering speeds as much as 30 times quicker than the fastest modems.

Time Warner isn't the first company in Central Florida to go digital. BellSouth Corp. launched its Americast wireless digital service in October 1998. The 170-channel service - which includes 40 music channels - is broadcast to customers within a 35-mile radius of the SunTrust Center tower in downtown Orlando.